Island



(No Model.)

B. L, SLOOUM.

AUXILIARY FIRE ALARM BOX.

No. 892,641. Patented Nov. 13, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @rrree.

EASON L. SLOOUM, OF LINCOLN, RHODE ISLAND.

AUXILIARY FIRE-ALARM BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,641, dated November13, 18188.

Application filed June 21. 1888. Serial No. 277,745. (No model.)

To all whom it 71mg concern.-

Be it known that I, EASON L. SLooUM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lincoln, in the county of Providence and State of IthodeIsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AuxiliaryFire- Alarm Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my improvements are to provide in auxiliary fire-alarmboxes a tell-tale or detector, which, as soon as the button sending thealarm is pressed, drops from its place in the door and evidences thatthe box has been meddled with; also, to provide a mechanism which willinsure an alarm, and I aecomplish these objects by the means illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation ofthe alarmbox; Fig. 2, an inside plan view of same with the door swungopen on its hinge, exhibiting the interior of box and the inside of thedoor; Fig. 3, a cross-section of the box on the line a" a Fig. 4, a rearelevation broken off on line m 3 Similar letters refer to similar partsth rough out the several views.

In Fig. 1 the box is constructed of metal in the shape exhibited in thedrawings, having the door A cast in one piece, attached to the lowerwall of the box by the hinge H, upon which the door swings open. Whenclosed, this door is secured by the lock L. In this door is made theround central aperture.

In Fig. 2 the door is swung open and its interior face shown, the lineof the circular central aperture being shown by the dotted line b.

a a a a are four steel springs set in a circle inside the edge of theaperture, having an equal relative pitch to each other, secured in theinterior face of the. door by pins or other suitable means for holdingthe same firmly in place, and extending about one-sixteenth of an inchbeyond the edge of the aperture. The spring a, however, is made in adifferent man nor, as follows: This spring is made slightly longer, andis attached to the door so as to swing upon the pin 0 for a bearingtoward the right hand and restrained from swinging to the left by theclamp 0, thus forming what may be termed a switch-spring.

B is a circular metal disk, the diameter of which is slightly largerthan that of the aperture in the door A. This disk, (tide Fig. 2,) whenthe switch-spring cis swung to the right, may be inserted beneath theends of the other three springs, a a and when the switch is swung backinto place the metal disk B rests in the arms formed by these springs,and, be-

ing slightly larger than the aperture, entire] y covers the same.

D, Fig. 3, is an ordinary electrical pushbutton, centrally secured inthe back of the box, opposite the circular aperture and electricallyconnected with the central fire-alarm station by a wire passing throughthe groove G in the back wall of the box. (Vida Fig. 4.) This button Dis made of suflicient length to reach within one thirty-second part ofan inch of the center of the disk 13 when said disk rests in the arms ofthe springs. This button is secured and rests in the metal case markedE, Fig. 3, which is then centrally secured in an aperture made for thatpurpose in the back of the box.

\Vhen the auxiliary alarm-box has been secured in any desired locationand properly connected by wire with the central station, and it isdesired to send in an alarm, the metal disk, which will bear upon itsexterior the di rections Press here, or other suitable words, iscompressed, and coming into immediate contact with theelectricallyconnected button sends in the alarm to the central station.The metal disk by the pressure is pushed out of the arms formed by thesprings, and as soon as the pressure is removed, being released from thearms, drops to the floor inside the box, as shown by the dotted circlein Fig. 1. This disk can only be replaced by unlocking the door A andinserting it again within the arms. Theswitch-springa beingniadeslightly longer than the other three springs, a a a', the disk whenpushed in will be released first from the springs a a a, and is thusprevented from. dropping in any direction save the bottom of the box.This disk thus acts as a tell-tale or detector, and makes it impossiblefor any one to meddle with the alarm without leaving evidence that thebox has been tampered with. This telltale disk forms one of the mainfeatures of my invention, as hitherto in auxiliary alarm-boxes a glasscover has been employed covering the entire door on the exterior, with ahammer hanging loosely beside the box to break the glass in case ofgiving an alarm. When it became necessary to sen d in an alarm, thehammer must first be taken down, then the glass broken,and finally thebutton pressed, making in all three separate and distinct movements forWhat I perform in one. The glass is employed simply as a tell-tale, andis only used for that purpose. Experience has shown in a recent case ofa serious fire that after the glass was broken in one of the boxes ofthis kind the person breaking the glass ontirely forgot to press thebutton and send in the alarm. My invention, however, obviates anypossible danger of an accident of this nature, since the slightestpressure of the disk brings the same into immediate connection with theelectrically-connected button and sends in the alarm. It also serves thepurpose of a tell-tale fully as well as the glass, since the watchman orperson having charge of the boxes can at a glance detect whether the boxhas been meddled with. Again, the disk can be more easily replaced andfar more cheaply than the glass. Again, as is very likely to happen, thehammer may have been removed, necessitating the breaking of the glass bythe hand at some danger.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure, is-

1. In auxiliary fire-alarm boxes, the metal disk B, centrally held inthe face of the door A by the steel springs ct a a and the switchspringa and the contiguous electrically-connected button, substantially asdescribed.

2. In auxiliary fire-alarm boxes, the combination of thecentrally-apertured metal door A with the removable tell-tale metal disk13 and the contiguous electrically-connected button, held in thecentrally-secured metal rest or case E, substantially as described.

EASON L. SLOOUM.

In presence of EDWARD W. BLODGETT, CLAUDIUS 'B. FARNSWORTH.

